The present invention generally relates to cleaning implements and more particularly pertains to the field of hand-held devices and aids for the sanitary handling and disposal of solid waste and droppings from household pet animals.
Devices for the sanitary catching, pick-up, or scooping removal of pet excrement are already well known, since population density and the maintaining of proper sanitary conditions require the use of such devices. While generally effective, these devices are not totally satisfactory from the viewpoint of convenience of use.
The shortcomings are due to considerable tradeoffs and limitations imposed by their design.
Some of the existing devices, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,380,054, 6,135,520, 6,641,188, 6,827,378, 6,941,896, and 6,983,966, are deficient in that the device itself must come into contact with the waste material and becomes contaminated and unsanitary. Efforts to avoid this problem have led to various designs which interpose a disposable bag or wrapper between the handling device and the waste, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,777,708, 3,819,220, 3,977,422, 3,984,139, 4,121,866, 5,193,870, 5,562,319 and 6,386,606. These devices generally require the user to fit a fresh bag on the device prior to each use that, in most cases, requires certain effort on the side of the user. In some cases, bags specially designed for use with the particular device are required.
Furthermore, the existing devices are deficient in utility value they provide due to limiting the user to only one way of handling the task. The prior art devices intended, for example, for scooping the waste are not functional for either catching or picking it up and vice versa. Many of the prior art devices are complex and bulky. In addition, the existing devices lack full and reliable bag closing or the closing at all.
A continuing need therefore exists for pet waste retrieval and disposal device that is entirely sanitary, capable of picking up as well as scooping and catching the waste, do not require use of special disposal bags, provide for use one bag for multiple pick-ups, and is simple, light weight and compact so that it can be comfortably and unobtrusively carried along while walking a pet.